St Louis police murder scandal (PLUS: riots, idiotic press conferences, etc.)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Ferguson police reportedly shot a female pastor with a rubber bullet.

Bastards.

[Lief 🗽]

Tips for Being an Un-Armed Black Teen

[All Along The Watchtower]

The fact that there have been riots at all, ones in which vandalism and looting have occurred, underlines precisely why the Police need military equipment for dealing with these kind of situations.

...

[memphis]

Ferguson police reportedly shot a female pastor with a rubber bullet.

Bastards.

Why should receive special treatment for being a woman or a pastor?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Ferguson police reportedly shot a female pastor with a rubber bullet.

Bastards.

Why should receive special treatment for being a woman or a pastor?

...I don't recall ever saying that she should.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Tips for Being an Un-Armed Black Teen

Gold.

[Hash]

[Simfan34]

The fact that there have been riots at all, ones in which vandalism and looting have occurred, underlines precisely why the Police need military equipment for dealing with these kind of situations.

The only one rioting here is the police.

This guy is a traitor:



These are the peaceful protestors:

[Simfan34]

The really interesting thing is that both sources on the right and the left are acknowledging the "militarisation of police" has spiraled to an alarming level. Does anyone think things might things change as a result?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Does anyone have the most factually accurate version of the story surrounding Michael Brown's death?

[Indy Texas]

It's amazing how much "law and order" in politics has been turned around. If this had happened 20 years ago, you'd have Republicans calling more more police on the streets, stricter sentencing for violent criminals and task forces to keep guns away from criminals, and Democrats would be talking about school uniforms and banning violent video games.

Now you've got a Republican US Senator from Kentucky saying, pretty unequivocally, that black people are often treated unfairly by police. And he has no reason to worry that those comments will create problems for his political career.

[dead0man]

Does anyone have the most factually accurate version of the story surrounding Michael Brown's death?

I really doubt we ever will.  We've got the word of the dead man's buddy, you've got to take with a grain of salt.  And we'v got the word of the cops, also must take with salt.  There will be some hard evidence that will come out, number of times the man was shot, number of shots fired, direction and distance, etc and they will point towards the validity of one side or the other (or both), but they will only paint part of the picture.  We've got a couple of things that both sides agree on:the men were walking in the street, the cops told them to get out of the street, they didn't, words were exchanged, then a scuffle, but still not a complete picture.


One of the main things I've taken from this and the fat man dying in NYC a couple of weeks ago is that we've got to get some of these pansy ass laws off the books.  Illegal to sell a single cig?  STUPID!  Walking in the street shouldn't be something a cop can hassle you over, walk at your own risk dumbasses.  The cop can suggest you not do that, just like any other wise person would suggest, but it shouldn't be a law.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Does anyone have the most factually accurate version of the story surrounding Michael Brown's death?

I really doubt we ever will.  We've got the word of the dead man's buddy, you've got to take with a grain of salt.  And we'v got the word of the cops, also must take with salt.  There will be some hard evidence that will come out, number of times the man was shot, number of shots fired, direction and distance, etc and they will point towards the validity of one side or the other (or both), but they will only paint part of the picture.  We've got a couple of things that both sides agree on:the men were walking in the street, the cops told them to get out of the street, they didn't, words were exchanged, then a scuffle, but still not a complete picture.


One of the main things I've taken from this and the fat man dying in NYC a couple of weeks ago is that we've got to get some of these pansy ass laws off the books.  Illegal to sell a single cig?  STUPID!  Walking in the street shouldn't be something a cop can hassle you over, walk at your own risk dumbasses.  The cop can suggest you not do that, just like any other wise person would suggest, but it shouldn't be a law.

His buddy wasn't the only witness.

[dead0man]

It's the only one I've read.  I know some people came around as it was unfolding, but AFAIK, they didn't see the whole thing and what they report would come with salt too.  Less salt than the cops or the buddy, but still salt.

[7,052,770]

Too bad the Ferguson police don't have mandatory dashboard cameras in cop cars...

[All Along The Watchtower]

One of the issues I've read about (in light of this story) regarding St. Louis County is that there are so many small neighborhood and municipal police departments there that aren't necessarily well-trained or professional; kinda hard to maintain that with large police departments, let alone much smaller ones.

Not saying that this is the main factor here, but I think it definitely contributes to the problem.

EDIT: Just read that Ferguson is 70% black-but with a 90% white police department.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/racial-tensions-are-not-new-in-st-louis-suburb-where-unarmed-black-teen-michael-brown-was-fatally-sh.html.

Yeah, what could possibly have gone wrong?

[dead0man]

Too bad the Ferguson police don't have mandatory dashboard cameras in cop cars...

Omaha, as of last year at least, only had functioning cameras in their K9 cars due to lack of funds*.


*we've got pension issues.

[Joe Republic]

Rich, white celebrity Sean Hannity has had nothing but smooth professionalism from the police in all his experiences interacting with them, so shucks, he just doesn't understand where any of this animosity is coming from.

[dead0man]

Indeed, Hannity can't know what it's like to be young male and black in America.  This guy does though.

[Хahar 🤔]

Important advice for dealing with police harassment

[Joe Republic]

Important advice for dealing with police harassment

I posted that on FB several hours ago, and got exactly zero likes. 

Time to delete all my friends and start again, methinks.

[Tender Branson]

Horrible.

I hope they bring the racist police officer to justice.

But the police and army are in general a cesspool for far-right white extremists (not just in the US).

[Tender Branson]

What also worries me is the military-style outfit of the police in small towns like this one in MO:



Not even the riot police in Vienna (a city of 1.8 million) is outfitted like this (they have a few water cannon throwers and normal guns and pepper spray).

It's like they are trying to fight ISIS within a MO small town ...

[dead0man]

But the police and army are in general a cesspool for far-right white extremists (not just in the US).

That's not true in the US.  The far-right white power guys here hate the govt.

[Tender Branson]

But the police and army are in general a cesspool for far-right white extremists (not just in the US).

That's not true in the US.  The far-right white power guys here hate the govt.

Oh, it is true (especially in the US).

Take a look at this documentary about the US border patrol and how they sniper to death unarmed Mexican kids from their control posts on the wall between the US/Mexico border:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYmnngW3Zgo#t=9m01s

I have made the video start at the relevant section.